SME manufacturers at heart of new ProspectSoft/Oxford Brookes partnership

Software provider ProspectSoft has joined forces with Oxford Brookes Business School to reveal how SME supply chain firms can use customer data for growth.

ProspectSoft, whose customers include wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers, worked with researchers at the business school as part of a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) to uncover the growth challenges facing firms in the sector and how they can be overcome. Supported by a grant from Innovate UK.

Their findings informed ProspectSoft’s Growth Engine, a business intelligence dashboard that highlights opportunities to not only acquire new customers but also retain existing ones and grow their accounts.

ProspectSoft founder Andrew Ardron said: “The research confirmed what we suspected: small supply chain businesses are really good at what they do, but they lack the in-house expertise in data analysis that is critical to effective decision-making in today’s world.

“Many people focus on expensive sales and marketing tactics to acquire new customers, but data from their CRM (customer relationship management) can reveal opportunities to increase the profitability and lifetime value of their existing customers.

“Our new dashboard gives decision makers the ability to understand and act on this data without needing extensive data analytics skills and knowledge. It’s driven by solid real-world evidence of how the software is currently being used and the broader challenges companies face.”

The research team from Oxford Brookes Business School, part of Oxford Brookes University, includes Methuselah Singh (KTP Partner), Paul Jackson (Principal Lecturer in Information Systems, Analytics and Operations), Diana Limburg (MBA Director) and Ahmad Abd Rabuh (Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics).

They have built a knowledge base with expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, information systems, data analytics, marketing and business analytics. Their findings were based on in-depth interviews with decision makers in the supply chain industry and data from ProspectSoft, including CRM usage, surveys and third-party academic articles.

Mr. Singh said: “SMEs have limited resources and employees often have to wear different hats. Senior executives, including founders and MDs, regularly waste valuable time on routine tasks, distracting them from their growth strategies.

“We concluded that decision makers needed support to transition to data-driven strategic thinking. Data from users in supply chain businesses shows that they are not fully using all the features of their software; often because staff are not aware of them, lack the IT skills and confidence, or have left and taken the knowledge with them. Resolving this will ease the transition.”

He added that software ‘super users’ are important for sharing new features, training staff and helping businesses make the best use of data.

Oxford-based ProspectSoft is a CRM provider. It has been part of The Access Group since an acquisition in 2022, which gave its customers access to the group’s wider range of supply chain and business software.